Symposium on musicality at UI Oct. 16-18 will feature international
experts

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A University of Iowa symposium on the subject of
musicality -- how people relate to music -- will feature experts from the
UI and from around the globe. "Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Musicality:
The Seashore Symposium," to be held at the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU)
and other locations on campus Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 16-18, will
be free and open to the public.

Many leading, internationally known figures in the diverse fields represented
in the symposium will speak, including neurologist Antonio Damasio from
the UI, ethnomusicologist Anthony Seeger from the Smithsonian Institution,
Suzuki violin teacher Doris Preucil from the Preucil School of Music in
Iowa City, UI professor emeritus and former director of the UI School of
Music Himie Voxman, UI Writers' Workshop Director Frank Conroy, and numerous
distinguished members of the UI School of Music faculty.

Although admission is free, a no-cost registration is recommended. Registration
materials will be available each morning: 8 a.m. Thursday and 8:30 a.m.
Saturday in the Terrace Lobby of the Iowa Memorial Union, and 8 a.m. Friday
in the Old Capitol.

The symposium is named in honor of Carl Seashore, a professor of psychology
at the UI from 1902-46 who was a pioneer in the field of the psychology
of music and the testing of musicality.

According to symposium coordinator Kate Gfeller, professor in the UI
School of Music and the department of speech pathology and audiology, musicality
includes not only why people are talented at music, but all the ways that
people relate to music, and why some form of music is so important to people
across all levels of society and in all cultures around the world.

"Music, which is as far as we know inessential to survival, is
a significant activity in every known society," Gfeller said. "It
is enjoyed by the youngest infants, and is an important part of our last
moments -- our funerals. It marks most of our significant personal events
and binds us together in our large social movements. We use it to underline
emotions in the movies, and it brings tears to the eye."

"Trying to better understand this universal human phenomenon, to
discover if we are born hard-wired to love music or if we are culturally
taught to love music, that is why I wanted to see this conference happen,
and why I think it will be of interest to members of the public."

Highlights of the three-day event will include:

-- At 10:45 a.m. Thursday in the Terrace Room of the IMU, a discussion
of "Technology and the Arts" with John Fix, UI associate dean
of Liberal Arts, and Ingo Titze, University of Iowa Distinguished Professor
in speech pathology and audiology and the UI School of Music.

-- At 3 p.m. Thursday in the Terrace Room of the IMU, a discussion of
the childhood development of musicality, featuring a demonstration by Preucil
and students from the Preucil School of Music, followed by a series of
reflections on their own development by three professional performing musicians,
pianist Uriel Tsachor and jazz composer/performer John Rapson from the
UI, and pianist Sylvia Wang from Northwestern University.

-- At 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol, presentations
on "The Nature of Musicality" by experts from different fields:
Psychologist Albert Bregman, professor of psychology at McGill University
and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the American Psychological
Association; neurologist Damasio,

Van Allen Distinguished Professor and the head of neurology at the UI
and adjunct professor at the Salk Institute; music educator Bennett Reimer,
professor emeritus at Northwestern University; and ethnomusicologist Seeger,
curator and director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

-- At 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Old Senate Chamber, a panel featuring
the four speakers from the Friday morning session.

-- At 7:30 p.m. Friday in Clapp Recital Hall, a performance with the
three professional musicians from the Thursday panel, plus reflections
on Carl Seashore by Voxman, who once served as Seashore's graduate assistant,
and a reading by Conroy, who has written extensively about music and performed
as a jazz pianist.

-- Throughout the day Saturday in the Terrace Room of the IMU, a series
of sessions on the development and measurement of musicality that will
be of particular interest to music teachers and to anyone interested in
the development of musical talent among young people.

"Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Musicality: The Seashore Symposium"
is supported by a Humanities Symposium Award from the Obermann Center for
Advanced Studies at the UI, the UI College of Education, the UI Graduate
College and the UI School of Music.

* * *

Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Musicality

Schedule of Public Events

THURSDAY, Oct. 16

8:45 p.m.

IMU Terrace Room. "The Development of Musicality: Graduate
Education in the Fine Arts."

Leslie B. Sims, dean, UI Graduate College

Robert Freeman, president, New England Conservatory

Kermit Hall, dean of Arts and Sciences, Ohio State University

Jon Whitmore, provost, UI.

10:45 a.m.

IMU Terrace Room. "Technology and the Arts."

John Fix, associate dean, UI College of Liberal Arts

Ingo Titze, University of Iowa Foundation distinguished professor,
department of speech pathology and audiology and UI School of Music.